Astros plan to purchase Corpus Christi franchise

The Astros said Friday they will purchase the Corpus Christi Hooks, their Class AA farm team, from Houston-based Ryan-Sanders Baseball. The sale is expected to close at the end of the 2013 season, and terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Reid Ryan, the Astros’ new president of business operations and CEO of Ryan-Sanders, which the Ryan family owns along with the family of Don Sanders of the Sanders Morris Harris investment firm, said the transaction fits with Astros owner Jim Crane’s desire to own the club’s minor league affiliates and with Corpus Christi’s desire to stay an Astros outpost.

“People in Corpus are Astros fans,” Ryan said. “When my dad (Rangers CEO Nolan Ryan) took the job with the Rangers, quite a few of (Hooks fans) said ‘Don’t switch us.’ They wanted to stay with the Astros. Plus, there was real fear in the market that the Astros might move and go somewhere else.

“We’re making sure that we’re taking care of Astros fans and Hooks fans by having the Astros own the club and be there for the long term. It’s better for the game of baseball, and it’s the right thing to do.”

Ryan thanked Don Sanders and his son, Bret, and his father for backing the Ryan-Sanders expansion in Round rock and Corpus Christi and thanked taxpayers there for funding construction of stadiums in those cities.

Don Sanders said Ryan-Sanders will retain the Round Rock Express, the Texas Rangers’ Class AAA affiliate, and will continue to operate the Hooks for the rest of the season.

“Because of Reid’s position, I think this is going to be a big benefit to Corpus Christi,” Sanders said. “The association will be better. Reid will still be involved, and this is a win-win for everybody. … We don’t want to lose Reid, but we’re losing him to the right place.”

Sanders said the company has looked across Texas for other places to start or buy teams, “but none of them have worked out. A lot of thigns have to fall into placed to buy a ballclub of start a ballclub.”

Also Friday,Crane said plans to build a ballpark in The Woodlands or north of The Woodlands that could become the Astros’ Class AAA affiliate “is still in play, but we have to secure a piece of property and get a stadium built, so there’s some work to be done there.”

He said the team was “well on the way” to reaching an agreement to move its spring training base to West Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., in conjunction with the Toronto Blue Jays. State officials have agreed to assist in the development, and Crane said the teams will work with Major League Baseball on additional funding.

“We’re hoping to get that signed off by the end of the summer, and the plan to build it will go into place quickly,” he said.